Cherry & Tahini Energy Balls

One of my closest friends who has saved me from many a recipe rut, recently mentioned that her mom made an energy ball with tahini. I am a big fan of tahini and the flavour combination of tahini, dried fruits and nuts sounded too good to pass up.

I’ll admit that there was a moment while everything was blending together, that I became skeptical. I worried that the tahini was going to completely overpower everything else, but I continued on, rolling the mixture into 20 little balls and storing them in the freezer for a few hours to help them firm up.
2 hours later and I was on my fourth trip to the freezer to sneak “just one more” (which ended up being about 10).

These little balls are amazing, the tart cherries, sweet raisins and nutty tahini is an ingenius combination that I wish I could take credit for. While the other energy ball recipes that I have previously posted are all quite sweet, these are smooth and creamy. Without the addition of dates or honey I found the consistency to be crumbly, causing them to be difficult to roll and less firm when stored in the fridge. I recommend keeping these in the freezer (plus they taste better frozen).

So is tahini healthy? Definitely. Tahini, a paste made from ground sesame, contains more protein then milk or the majority of nuts, while also being a good source of vitamins and minerals including magnesium, iron and calcium. It’s also very easy for your stomach to digest and actually aids in the digestion of other foods. I recommend buying paler tahini, which is made from skinned seeds and is creamy in taste. The darker paste is made from unhulled sesame and is slightly bitter with a stronger flavour. With the addition of raisins, cherries, walnuts and coconut, these balls are also a good source of anti-oxidants, fibre, omega-3, potassium and B-vitamins. So to summarize, not only are these cherry & tahini energy balls delicious but they are good for you too!

Place all of the above in a food processor and blend until broken into small pieces. Depending on the strength of your food processor you may need to grind each ingredient separately and then mix everything together at the end.

Form the mixture into 20-25 balls, if it becomes too crumbly place the mixture in the fridge for approximately 15 minutes to harden.

Store the energy balls in a sealed container in the freezer for up to a month.

Comments

I love tahini but wasn’t sure mixing it with dried fruit would work. I have made a lot of your recipes and each one has been a success so I decided to trust you on this one and i’m so happy I did. I absolutely LOVE these energy balls, they are so good! Another fantastic recipe!

To be honest I’m not sure what you mean by the ready to eat pots of tahini, I have never seen those before. For this recipe I use raw tahini which you can find on amazon or in most grocery stores. You can also make your own by toasting sesame seeds and slowly blending them in a food processor with a few tablespoons of mild flavoured olive oil.

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[…] Bites from Gimme Some OvenPhoto courtesy of Gimme Some Oven Cherry & Tahini Energy Balls from Every Last BitePhoto courtesy of Every Last Bite Salted Caramel Chocolate Bliss Bites from Living the Farm […]

[…] Bites from Gimme Some OvenPhoto courtesy of Gimme Some Oven Cherry & Tahini Energy Balls from Every Last BitePhoto courtesy of Every Last Bite Salted Caramel Chocolate Bliss Bites from Living the Farm […]